


What Should Have Been

by Insane_but_smart



Series: Aestheticverse [5]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Blood, Death, Mercy Killing, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25514380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insane_but_smart/pseuds/Insane_but_smart
Summary: (Alternatively titled 'Stages of Grief')An alternate ending to Unintentional.
Relationships: Rigel!Blue & Ray!Dream
Series: Aestheticverse [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1679476
Kudos: 8





	What Should Have Been

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Unintentional](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24426742) by [Insane_but_smart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insane_but_smart/pseuds/Insane_but_smart). 



> This is how Unintentional should have gone, actually.  
> I just didn't have the guts to write it. My sister dared me to write a character dying, so I did...

Ray screamed in pain as the sword sliced through his ribs, cleaving through them like a hot butterknife takes to butter, and with one smooth, clean cut, slicing him open, pouring red, red,  _ red  _ blood all over the ground- stars, everything was already going hazy- everything already mixing together like his blood and dust- He choked on the crimson liquid as it slowly dripped from his mouth in a steady stream, every single nerve in his body screaming ‘pain, pain, pain-’ an unending song of agony was being played, and he was the instrument.

He couldn't stand any longer.

His legs gave out.

He crumpled to his knees.

He planted his hands on the ground and stared down at them as his arms shook.

He looked up.

Flare stared down at him, weak and bleeding and _ dying. _ He glared up at the other with as much rage as he could muster.

His eyelights practically glowed with wrath and the emotional turmoil he was in- they burned with a betrayal that stung the guardian. “Flare- what-  _ how could- _ ”

Flare stared cooly back. “You're dying.”

Ray hissed in pain before replying. “I didn't think you-”

“You didn't,” Flare replied, raising his bloodstained sword and pressing it against the other’s neck vertebrae. “It was nice knowing you, Ray.”

Ray's eyelights sputtered out, and he let out a scream of protest- it was silenced immediately, and Flare was splattered with blood and dust.

...he didn't deserve to die.

But it was necessary.

His sword dissolved, and he turned around to make a-

Rigel was standing there in shock. “...who…?” he asked weakly, his eyes locked to the pile of dust- Ray’s clothes were still there.

The second he realized what had happened, his entire expression changed. “You… you  _ killed _ him.” Rigel whispered, barely daring to believe it.

But the evidence was there, clear as day.

Flare paused. “It was a mercy-”

“ _ You funking killed him, Flare. _ ” Rigel’s voice was shaking with a barely-restrained anger and…  _ sadness _ .

Flare didn't know he was still capable of feeling that.

“...yes,” he whispered. “I did.”

Rigel squeezed his eyes shut.

Ray was  _ dead. _

He summoned his staff.

It wasn't just a staff anymore.

It was the tool he'd use to exact his vengeance for the only friend he'd had in years.

He opened his eyes, and the blue pinpricks within his sockets burned with cold hatred.

Flare grunted as he was pushed to the ground, a foot planted firmly on his chest, cracking a few of his ribs. Flare clenched his teeth, refusing to show any sign of pain.

He should have healed.

He should have healed after every single battle with Ink.

But he didn't.

And  _ that _ was his fallacy.

Rigel held his staff in one hand and Flare’s sword in the other.

“Are you ready to die, Flare?” he whispered, tilting Flare’s chin upwards with the tip of the sword. “Or do you want to wait a bit?” The sword dipped down and nicked his collarbone, drawing blood- and then Rigel cut a straight line into the bone, and it began bleeding profusely. “I can make this a lot more  _ fun  _ than it needs to be,” he purred.

The sword went back to its original position, and Rigel smirked. “What’ll it be,  _ brother?” _

“He got in my  _ way-” _

“I don't care,” Rigel snapped, the smirk vanishing without a trace. “He was my- ugh- he was my only friend.”

“And how did you manipulate him into believing that?”

He laughed scornfully. “Manipulate?  _ Manipulate? _ Me, manip- that's  _ hilarious. _ If there was anyone doing any manipulation, it'd be Ray. I didn't even  _ want _ to be friends with him, but… he managed to get his way.”

Flare went still. “You- you were  _ actually _ friends?”

“Yes.”

And then the sword cut through the other’s neck vertebrae, and he dusted.

There are 5 stages of grief.

Rigel had bypassed the first stage and gone directly to the second.

Now he was headed right back to the start.

Rigel stood there, frozen, with a higher EXP and LV than he had had before entering the AU.

Covered in dust.

Covered in blood.

And something was so indescribably  _ wrong. _

He had killed his  _ other half _ .

It felt like something was  _ missing _ . Something he couldn't replace.

A void he couldn't fill.

He would never be  _ able  _ to fill it if he tried.

After all, that's just what killing your other half does to you.

**Author's Note:**

> ...and I surpassed her requirements :)
> 
> If you think I should update the rating/add any tags please don't hesitate to yell at me.


End file.
